Good Samaritan Helps Service Member Get Home From Afghanistan For Birth Of Baby

A new father was able to make it home for the birth of his child after a Good Samaritan helped him make the voyage from Afghanistan to America.

National Guard Sergeant Seth Craven flew from Afghanistan to Kuwait on August 5th. He eventually arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 7th. The veteran had an important mission: arrive at his Charleston, West Virginia Home before August 9th, which is when his wife, Julie, was scheduled to have a Caesarean Section.

While Sgt. Craven was supposed to fly out of Philadelphia on the 7th, an impromptu storm left all flights grounded- and Craven was now stranded. He successfully booked a flight for the following morning, but by a freak coincidence, that flight was also cancelled at the last minute.

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“We were on the runway and they pulled the plane back due to a maintenance issue. It was delayed an hour, then an hour-and-a-half and then at 4.30pm they finally cancelled the flight,” Sgt Craven later explained to the media, Yahoo Newsreports.

Due to the weather, he says that renting a car and driving were also not an option at the time. “Because of the storm, all the car rental places were sold out, so there was no other transport,” he said. At that point, it didn’t look like the Sergeant was going to make it home for his wife’s delivery… and she wasn’t too pleased. “She wasn’t very calm about it,” he said.

via yahoo

However, a fellow passenger, who’s since been identified as only Charlene, managed to overhear his predicament and offered to help. “Charlene said, ‘I have to be in West Virginia anyway, no matter the weather’, and offered to drive me in her car,” Sgt. Craven explained. So, he and two of Charlene’s co-workers who’d also been on the flight packed in her car and prepared for the eight-hour ride ahead of them.

Sgt. Craven later learned Charlene’s father was a veteran and the two found a lot of things to talk about during their long car ride. “We talked about her kids and husband and I heard about the work she does with health and clinics in areas that need it,” he explained.

Luckily, the new dad arrived just in time to be by his wife’s side during her C-section. The couple sent photos of their new arrival to Charlene, who returned the nice gesture by sending hem a goodie bag filled with candy and baby essentials.

“Most of the news is so negative, I think this is a reminder that there are still nice people out there. She has such a big heart. Most people wouldn’t do that,” Sgt. Craven said of why he decided to go public with his remarkable story.

He added, “They’d talk to you, but they wouldn’t put a stranger in their vehicle and drive with them. I couldn’t thank her enough.”